It seems that Labour simply can’t improve their position in polls, no matter what they do. Even when they try to turn the conversation to a topic on which they should be strong on if they are on any topic, they lose.

Even though they had a good run with their Twitter tag, that only really had any impact with the already politically aware and pretty much already-decided. But with the general public, it just gave the Tories an free opportunity – and they took advantage of that, and managed to increase their lead on the NHS issue:

While 48% think healthcare would be better under a Tory government, only 41% agree with Labour warnings that it would be worse. Even 24% of current Labour voters think the Tories would improve the NHS.

That’s pretty damning, espiecally considering that it is the NHS – which should be Labour’s strongest issue.

Overall, Labour have suffered big time, with their support falling to just 25% – 16 points behind the Conservatives and just 6 ahead of the Lib Dems.

It appears that even hiding Brown away on holiday all summer has not enabled them to make any improvement in the polls. It has moved so that Labour themselves are as disliked as Brown, and no leader change will fix that. (Interesting note: Harriet Harman is less popular among women than men!)

Increasingly it seems that Labour are doomed. If they can’t even manage to beat the Conservatives on the NHS or at least close the gap after a concentrated campaign on the issue, they’re in deep trouble.